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MORE FAKE NEWS: No, Trump Won’t Kill Big Bird

One of the great games of the left is the Dependence Game. Here’s how it goes: first, you make somebody or something dependent on government funding. Then, no matter how little that person or program actually needs government funding, you claim that any cuts to government funding will kill that person or program, you heartless bastards!

Big Bird now lives in a palatial nest over at HBO. As The Washington Examiner points out, “The program's parent company, Sesame Workshop, struck a deal with HBO in 2015 that gave the private cable network first-run episodes. PBS is still allowed to air the reruns.” Which means that Big Bird can move in with his other private sector muppet buddies ranging from Kermit the Frog to Beaker. Somehow, Disney and Nickelodeon have been doing just fine without public funding. Why would Oscar the Grouch be any different? And the Cookie Monster will be into the chocolate chips for a while longer, no matter what.

Jim Epstein at Reasonexplains that the rationale for public funding is largely to uphold regional radio and television stations. But with modern technology, that’s no longer a relevant rationale:

When the Public Broadcasting Act became law, maintaining a network of regional stations was the only way to insure that every American household had access to public television and radio content. Today, this decentralized system isn't necessary because it's possible to stream or download NPR or PBS content from anywhere in the world. As audiences moves online, the regional stations supported by the federal government are becoming unnecessary.

But as always, the leftist argument remains that once dependent on government, always dependent on government -- even if Big Bird is now a welfare queen.

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